Survey: 50,000+ health IT jobs could be created by 2015
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Out of the 135 survey respondents, about 42 percent believe that 50,000 new jobs will be created between now and 2015 for health IT workers. About 28 percent believe that 50,000 to 100,000 new jobs will be created while around 13 percent of survey respondents believe that 100,000-200,000 will be created.
According to the survey, about 13 percent of respondents believe more than 200,000 jobs will be created.
The organization conducted this survey in response to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which indicated a national deficit of qualified health IT workers, according to ASHIM. The purpose of the survey was to provide an early stage snapshot of job activity taking place around health IT in the U.S., the Salt Lake City-based organization stated.
The survey results show that 90 percent of survey participants believe that health IT employees want both IT and healthcare experience/knowledge. The percentage of those that strongly agreed that health IT employers are more likely to hire IT workers with healthcare industry experience was 54 percent. The survey reported that 10 percent responded that IT skills only matter when hiring to fill IT positions in healthcare.
According to ASHIM, participants of the survey believe consultants and IT application trainers will fill most new positions; with 63 percent and 61 percent, respectively. More than 50 percent of the survey participants believe IT professionals will seek additional skills to work in health IT, the survey found.
ASHIM found that 95 percent of survey participants believe that health IT certification is valuable in the hiring process. However, the survey found that the number of participants with a “passing interest” in a health IT credential that validates the health IT skills of applicants was slightly higher than than the number of participants with “extreme interest.”